Box Score

GENEVA, NY (January 17, 2009) – The Vassar men's basketball team stormed back from a 21-point first half deficit and drew within six points in the second half, but one decisive surge by host Hobart in the final six minutes led the Statesmen past the Brewers 68-53 in Liberty League play Saturday afternoon at Bristol Gym.

The loss drops Vassar to 5-8, 0-2 while Hobart improves to 4-10, 1-2. The Brewers will return home to the Athletics & Fitness Center after four straight road games on January 21 to face Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at 8:00 p.m.

The Brewers, who trailed 40-23 at halftime, pieced together a formidable run to start the second half, led by senior guard Brian Butterworth (Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) who scored seven of Vassar's first nine points. Playing catch-up was an up hill struggle, but the Brewers were able to draw within six points twice in the second half. A 3-pointer by junior guard Casey Black (Littleton, CO/Chatfield) reduced the Hobart lead to 42-36 with 14:04 to play. Another field goal by Buterworth at 10:52 cut the Statesmen lead to 44-38. Hobart was able to build that margin to 56-42 following a layup by junior guard Sean McHugh (Nineola, NY/Holy Trinity) with 5:25 to play.

Despite Vassar's comeback efforts, the first half put the Brewers in a deep hole. A 3-pointer by freshman guard Nick Justiz (Old Wesbury, NY/Wheatley) provided the Vassar with its only lead, 13-9, with 11:27 to play. Hobart then dug down defensively and held Vassar scoreless over the next 4:30 minutes and went on a 14-0 run that put the Statesmen ahead 23-13. A bucket by Vassar senior forward Joe Davis (East Amherst, NY/St. Joseph's Institute) momentarily halted that assault. Hobart then went on a 15-2 run building the lead to 38-17 with 2:05 remaining. The knockout blow during that span was delivered by Hobart first year guard Greg Stern (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) who canned a 3-pointer pushing the Statesmen to a 21 point lead, the largest of the game.

Cold shooting by the Brewers was a deciding factor. Vassar connected on only 18.5 percent of its first half shots and just 25 percent for the game.

Butterworth scored all of his team-leading 12 points in the second half. Davis added 11 points, Black chipped in with 10. Senior forward Matt Nunn (Lower Gywnedd, PA/Abington Friends) had a team-high eight rebounds and Butterworth grabbed seven.

Hobart placed three players in double figures, led by first year forward Matt Pebole (Little Silver, NJ/Red Bank) with 15 points, sophomore forward Adam Salzmann (Connelly, NY/Kingston) with 13 points along with 15 points.